Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is not the only Hongkonger planning to retire on the mainland. Many middle-class residents are considering the move across the border because of prohibitive property prices in Hong Kong.
'Many middle-class people have moved back to China in the last two to three years because Hong Kong is getting more expensive,' the head of residential property for greater China at DTZ, Alan Chiang Sheung-lai, said. 'People want to improve their quality of living when retiring, but it's very difficult to upgrade their properties here.'
Chiang said many financial sector workers with monthly family incomes of HK$100,000 or more were now planning to move to the mainland about eight to 10 years before they were due to retire. By contrast, retirees moving to the mainland in the 1980s and 1990s were less well-off.
A 1,000 square foot home for a middle-class family may now cost HK$15 million in Hong Kong, or HK$15,000 per sq ft, he said. But a family could buy a luxurious home in the Pearl River Delta region with a price tag of 4,645 yuan per sq ft (HK$5,720) or more.
For example, flats at the Shenzhen private estate Mangrove West Coast, which is conveniently located near the Lok Ma Chau border crossing, are selling from about 2,800 yuan per sq ft (HK$3,447), and the location is comparable to, or even better than, One Silversea in West Kowloon, where flats are currently selling for between HK$14,000 and HK$18,000 per sq ft on average.
'So flat prices on the mainland are one-third or even one-fourth of those in Hong Kong,' Chiang said.
Earlier this month, the Housing Society announced its 'Joyous Living' retirement projects in North Point and Tin Shui Wai, into which well-off retirees can move from the age of 60 onwards after paying a one-off lump sum rent. A 74-year-old retiree, for example, will pay about HK$3 million if he chooses to live in a 500 sq ft flat, equating to HK$25,000 per month if he were to die 10 years after moving in.